Fancy the barge life? Don't go off the deep end

Property prices may well be falling, but that hasn't stopped several throwaway suggestions that living on a barge may be cheaper than paying city rents.

However, buying a narrrowboat isn't necessarily the brightest of ideas if you've never lived on water before.

"So many people talk glibly about getting on the property ladder by buying a boat, but a boat is not a property," says Rex Walden, chairman of the Residential Boat Owners Association. "If you are considering it because you love waterways and wildlife, then fine - but it worries me that recently a lot of people have shown an interest for all the wrong reasons."

Walden says he has heard of land-living renters ordering narrowboats to move into permanently - only to confess that they have never stepped on board this sort of boat before. He adds: "If you are serious, then try it out. Book a narrowboat holiday, ideally in the winter when it's freezing cold and raining, to see what it really would be like."

A holiday is all it took for Walden and his wife to be converted; many of their friends have since followed suit. They have been living on a narrowboat, moored usually around Staffordshire, for the last six years.

"It may sound like a cliche, but there is something charming about how time slows down. There's the changing scenery, and the novelty of fauna and flora you may not normally see," says Walden.

But don't presume that a water-based break will be cheaper than a spell in a hotel or B&B, as there is an inevitable premium for the novelty factor of lodging in a boat.

The cheapest last-minute holiday Cash found on UK Boat Hire.com was for £647 for four people for a week, in the beginning of August, in Gailey, Staffordshire; the most costly was £1,027 for six people for a week along the waterways in Falkirk, in the Scottish Lowland canals. "Narrowboats are not cheap, and maintenance is high, so companies that hire them out have to allow for that," says Walden.

He says that complete barge novices should be given elementary training about locks, steering and safety checks.

Most companies should run through this on the day you arrive to board - some send out training DVDs as well.

If you get hooked, and are seriously considering living on water, then try it out long-term before committing to buy.

GreatEscapeNarrowboats.co.uk lets you rent for a minimum of six months to see if it really is for you, with the option of buying at the end of your contract. Rentals start from £600 per month, although you will also have to pay for a waterways licence (£50 a month for six months) and fuel and heating costs, which are estimated at around £25 a month.